This book tells the story of one of World War I's most famous squadrons, Spa. 124 - the only French squadron made up entirely of American volunteers (save for the commander and executive officer.) Organised in April 1916, the group was successively dubbed the Escadrille Americaine, Escadrille des Volontaires and finally the Escadrille Lafayette. Its achievements were modest, but it included several colourful characters who captured the public imagination and played a major role in gaining American sympathy for the Allied cause. When the United States finally entered the war, many Lafayette...
This book tells the story of one of World War I's most famous squadrons, Spa. 124 - the only French squadron made up entirely of American volunteers (...
This book traces the combat history of the most famous and highest-scoring fighter group in France's World War I Aviation Militaire. Groupe de Combat 12 boasted the highest-scoring Allied fighter pilot, Rene Fonck, and France's most celebrated hero of the air, Georges Guynemer. Its ranks included numerous other famous aces, such as Rene's Dorme, Alfred Heurteaux, Albert Deullin, and American volunteers Edwin Parsons and Frank L. Baylies. Additionally, Guynemer was instrumental in developing France's premier series of fighter planes, the SPAD VII, XII, XIII and XVII.
This book traces the combat history of the most famous and highest-scoring fighter group in France's World War I Aviation Militaire. Groupe de Combat ...
Tethered balloons reached their zenith as a means of providing a stationary observation platform above the battlefield during World War I. It took a special breed of daredevil to take on such odds deep in enemy lines in order to destroy a balloon, with Balloon specialists such as Willy Coppens, Pierre Bourjade and Michel Coiffard rising to the challenge. This book covers the story of these 'balloon busters' from both sides in World War 1 through a mix of first-hand accounts and expert analysis, which compares tactics, theatres of operation, aircraft types and the overall odds for success.
Tethered balloons reached their zenith as a means of providing a stationary observation platform above the battlefield during World War I. It took a s...
Having established its SPAD VII as the most effective French fighter of 1916, the Societe Pour l'Aviation at ses Derives strove to improve the model with a 220hp Hispano Suiza 8B engine and two machine guns. Despite initial teething troubles with the new engine, by mid-1918 the SPAD XIII had taken its place as the principal fighter of both France and the US. Meanwhile, the German quest for a successor for their structurally flawed Albatros D V finally bore fruit with the Fokker D VII. Entering combat in May 1918, this plane earned a reputation as the most formidable fighter of the war, yet...
Having established its SPAD VII as the most effective French fighter of 1916, the Societe Pour l'Aviation at ses Derives strove to improve the model w...
The quest for an effective fighter airplane to achieve air superiority during World War 1 resulted in a series of pusher fighter planes, designed with the engine at the rear and the machine gun at the front. These ungainly, heavy looking fighters did surprisingly well and they were able to hold their own against their German counterparts - including the Fokker Eindeckers with their synchronized machine guns - until 1917. By then, however, the drag-producing design rendered the pusher fighter unable to match the performance of tractor-engined machines. This is the story of the unusual pusher...
The quest for an effective fighter airplane to achieve air superiority during World War 1 resulted in a series of pusher fighter planes, designed with...
When originally conceived, the French SPAD VII and German Albatros D II represented steps away from an emphasis on maneuver in aerial combat in favor of speed and durability - factors that came into play in hit-and-run tactics. At the end of 1916, however, Albatros tried to have the best of both worlds by incorporating the sesquiplane wing of the nimble Nieuport 17 into its D III. The result combined the better downward view and maneuverability of the Nieuport with the power and twin machine guns of the Albatros D II, but at a high price - a disturbing tendency for the single-spar lower...
When originally conceived, the French SPAD VII and German Albatros D II represented steps away from an emphasis on maneuver in aerial combat in fav...
Though understandably overshadowed by their army colleagues, naval aviators played a significant role in World War 1, including some noteworthy contributions of fighter aviation. At a time when the Royal Flying Corps was struggling to match the 'Fokker Scourge' of 1915-16, the Royal Naval Air Service (RNAS) was first to use Sopwith's excellent line of scouts, such as the Pup, Triplane and Camel. Some RNAS pilots such as Raymond Collishaw, Robert A Little and Roderick Stanley Dallas rated among the most successful in the British Commonwealth. Their ranks also included David Ingalls, the only...
Though understandably overshadowed by their army colleagues, naval aviators played a significant role in World War 1, including some noteworthy contri...
The Nieuport 11 boasts an important place in the technology race against German aircraft in World War I aerial warfare. It eventually led Nieuport to produce the first plane flown in large numbers in aerial combat by the United States.
The appearance in July 1915 of Germany's Fokker E I, armed with interrupter gear that allowed its machine gun to fire forward without striking the propeller, heralded a reign of terror over the Western Front that the Allies called the "Fokker Scourge." Among several alternative means for countering the Fokkers, until the Allies introduced practical...
The Nieuport 11 boasts an important place in the technology race against German aircraft in World War I aerial warfare. It eventually led Nieuport ...
This book profiles a wide variety of British, French, German, Austro-Hungarian and American aircraft, ranging from frontline stalwarts like the RE 8 and AR 1 to the swift Salmson 2A2 and the compact, fighter-like Halberstadt CL II.
Oft-overshadowed by the fighters that either protected or threatened them, two-seater reconnaissance aircraft performed the oldest and most strategically vital aerial task of World War 1 - a task that required them to return with the intelligence they gathered at all costs. Bomber sorties were equally important and dangerous, and the very nature of both...
This book profiles a wide variety of British, French, German, Austro-Hungarian and American aircraft, ranging from frontline stalwarts like the RE ...
